Abstract
The economics of art and culture is a fascinating and worthwhile subject. Its analysis is based on the economic way of thinking. It deals with a large number of diverse issues, such as how valuable art is to society, how the art market and auctions work, the specific characteristics of artists’ labour market, and the role of copies and fakes in art. Various areas of the arts and culture are analyzed, such as opera and theatre, festivals, films, museums, cultural heritage and cultural tourism. Finally, various aspects of the public support for the arts are studied, and it is shown that art makes people happy.
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Related Literature
The extension of economics beyond the economy has been championed by
Becker GS (1976) The economic approach to human behavior. Chicago University Press, Chicago
See also, more recently,
Frey BS (1999) Economics as a science of human behaviour. Towards a new social science paradigm. 2nd rev. and extended ed., Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, Dordrecht and London.
The founders of the modern Economics of Art are
Baumol WJ, Bowen WG (1966) Performing arts, the economic dilemma; a study of problems common to theater, opera, music and dance. The Twentieth Century Fund Study, Hartford CT
Peacock AT (1993) Paying the Piper. Culture, Music and Money. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh
Survey articles are
Blaug M (2001) Where are we now in the cultural economics? J Econ Surveys 15(2):123–143
Throsby D (1994) The production and consumption of the arts: a view of cultural economics. J Econ Lit 32(1):1–29
Much of the content in the present booklet is more extensively treated in the excellent textbooks by
Throsby D (2010) The economics of cultural policy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Towse R (2010) A textbook of cultural economics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Other textbooks are, for instance
Benhamou F (1996) L’économie de la culture. Editions La Découverte, Paris
Frey BS, Pommerehne WW (1989) Muses and markets: explorations in the economics of the arts. Blackwell Publishers, Oxford
Gottschalk I (2006) Kulturökonomik: Probleme, Fragestellungen und Antworten. Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden
Hutter M, Throsby D (2011) Beyond price. Value in culture, economics, and the arts. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Towse R (2014) Advanced introduction to cultural economics. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham UK and Northampton, MA, USA
There are several comprehensive collections of articles, also dealing with aspects not covered in the present booklet:
Ginsburgh, VA, Throsby D (eds) (2006, 2014) Handbook of the economics of art and culture. Volumes I and II. Elsevier, Amsterdam.
Towse R (ed) (2003) A handbook of cultural economics. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham UK and Northampton, MA, USA
Other collections of articles are
Ginsburgh VA, Menger P-M (eds) (1996) Economics of the arts. Selected essays. Elsevier/ North Holland, Amsterdam
Klamer A (ed) (1996) The value of culture. On the relationship between economics and arts. Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam
Peacock AT, Rizzo I (eds) (1994) Cultural economics and cultural politics. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht
Towse R (ed) (2007) Recent developments in cultural economics. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham UK and Northampton, MA, USA
Towse R (ed.) (1997) Cultural economics: the arts, the heritage and the media industries. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham U.K. and Lyme, USA
Some monographs are, for example
Frey B (2003) Arts and economics. Analysis and cultural policy. 2nd edn. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York
Mossetto G (1993) Aesthetics and economics. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht and Boston
Throsby D (2001) Economics and culture. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Closely related sociological contributions are
Bourdieu P, Dardel A (1966) L’Amour de l’Art: Les Musées et leur Public. Editions de minuit, Paris
DiMaggio PJ (ed) (1986) Nonprofit enterprise in the arts. Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford
Foster, AW, Judith RB (eds) (1989) Art and society. Readings in the sociology of the arts. State University of New York Press, Albany.
The role of competition in classical music is analysed in
Baumol WJ, Baumol H (1994) On the economics of musical composition in Mozart’s Vienna. J Cult Econ 18(3):171–198
Vaubel R (2005) The role of competition in the rise of Baroque and Renaissance music. J Cult Econ 29(4):277–297
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Frey, B.S. (2019). What Is the Economics of Art and Culture?. In: Economics of Art and Culture. SpringerBriefs in Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15748-7_1
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